Collaborative Research: Map of Life: An infrastructure for integrating global species distribution knowledge

耶鲁大学和科罗拉多大学博尔德分校获得资助，开发一个交互式的在线物种分布工作台和知识库，即“生命地图”，作为记录、整合和推进人类生物多样性分布知识的基本机制。尽管经过数百年的积极探索，人类对生物多样性分布的认识仍然非常有限。造成这一缺陷的一个根本因素是，大多数关于物种分布的直接和间接信息没有得到调动和整合。虽然研究人员可以很容易地获得覆盖全球的精细尺度环境数据，但获得精确的综合物种分布信息仍然是难以捉摸的。该合作项目将开发一个概念和网络基础设施框架，以提供和改进可靠的物种地理范围信息。“生命地图”将在一个网站上结合专家范围地图、调查数据和根据物种栖息地适宜性调整的范围地图，最初是针对陆生脊椎动物物种，并计划扩展到其他动物和植物群体。因此，它将满足所有需要估计不同分类组和地区的物种地理范围的人的需要，例如科学家、土地管理者、政府、决策者和一般公众。用户可以上传数据，编辑输入或输出，并直接对现有地图进行改进或评论，这将迭代地产生更先进的物种分布知识。用户还可以直接从应用程序下载任何和所有不同格式的地图，或者对多个物种进行批量下载。最后，简单的丰富度和区域物种列表工具将产品扩展到具有地理重点的用户。鉴于物种范围图是生物学中最常用和最熟悉的信息产品之一，生命地图对社会的潜在更广泛的影响和利益是显著的。与印刷的地形地图不同，可编辑的在线地形地图的动态特性鼓励公众从被动消费者的角色转变为“产消者”；他们既可以生产和消费信息，也可以产生新的知识。生命地图项目还提供了一个独特的宏观生态学和生物多样性信息学跨学科培训机会。耶鲁大学和科罗拉多大学之间专门的实验室交流，以及专业会议上的研讨会和专题讨论会，将使思想的广泛交流成为可能。pi还将开发有针对性的地图和网络教程，说明人类对物种地理范围的理解，并将在耶鲁大学皮博迪博物馆和科罗拉多大学自然历史博物馆展示这些产品。关于生命地图的更多信息可以在http://www.yale.edu/mapoflife上找到。

Yale University and the University of Colorado Boulder are awarded grants to develop an interactive, online species distribution workbench and knowledge-base, the "Map of Life", as the fundamental mechanism for documentation, integration, and advance of human biodiversity distribution knowledge. Despite hundreds of years of active exploration, human knowledge of the distribution of biodiversity remains very limited. A fundamental factor in this shortcoming is that the majority of direct and indirect information about species' distributions has not been mobilized and integrated. While researchers can readily access fine-scale environmental data with global coverage, access to integrated species distribution information at validated precision remains elusive. This collaborative project will develop a conceptual and cyberinfrastructure framework for provisioning and improving reliable species geographic range information. Map of Life will combine on a single website expert range maps, survey data, and range maps adjusted for species habitat suitability initially for terrestrial vertebrate species, with extensions planned for other animal and plant groups. It will therefore serve the needs of all those requiring estimates of species geographic ranges across taxonomic groups and regions, such as scientists, land-managers, governments, policy-makers and the general public. Users can upload data, edit input or output and directly improve or comment on existing maps which will iteratively lead to more advanced species distribution knowledge. Users can also download any and all maps in different formats directly from the application or perform batch-download for multiple species. Finally, simple richness and regional species list tools will extend the products to users with a geographic focus.Given that species range maps are one of the most commonly used and familiar information products in biology, the potential broader impacts and benefits of Map of Life to society are remarkable. Unlike printed range maps, the dynamic nature of editable online range maps encourages the public to move from roles of passive consumers to "prosumers"; they can both produce and consume information and generate new knowledge. The Map of Life project also presents a unique cross-disciplinary training opportunity in macroecology and biodiversity informatics. Dedicated lab exchanges between Yale and the University of Colorado, along with workshops and symposia at professional meetings will allow extensive cross-fertilization of ideas. The PIs will also develop targeted map and web tutorials illustrating the notion of human understanding of a species' geographic range and will showcase those products at the Yale Peabody Museum and the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. Further information about the Map of Life may be found at http://www.yale.edu/mapoflife.